Setback for Anislie but all to sail for . .

Two bad starts for Ben Ainslie’s J.P.Morgan BAR, saw them forced to play catch up, but some great crew work, boat handling and good tactical calls kept the team in contention on the overall leaderboard. They head into the penultimate day of racing in fourth place overall, just three points separate the top four teams and with the loaded points on the final race on Super Sunday there is everything still to play for.

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The first start of the day saw J.P.Morgan BAR late for the line following a wrap in the wing sheet. The team worked hard pulling back valuable places to finish sixth. In race two J.P.Morgan BAR was one of four teams who jumped the gun and were forced to take the time penalty. Strong crew work saw the team pull back to fourth at the finish, just behind Emirates Team New Zealand.

Many teams had mixed fortunes today including damage to both Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Swordfish after a port starboard incident in their match race. The other Italian teams, Luna Rossa’s Piranha, were forced to pull out of the final fleet race posting a DNF after discovering a fault on wing.

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Elsewhere Oracle Team USA Slingby and the French Team Energy had a faultless day, both teams posted a first and second in the two fleet races.

J.P.Morgan BAR will line up against their training partners Oracle Team USA in Saturday’s match racing semi-finals. In the fleet racing with three races remaining, including the Super Sunday, just three points split the top four teams.